Categories

The categories page in the admin area lists all of your custom categories and the system default categories. Categories essentially represent pages on your website. A single category can be used to group and display item listings such as products or articles or it can be used for just one single web page. It’s important to know how categories work and link with other content pages. Below is a summary of the main types of content pages that the cms generates. Category Pages: Category pages can be used to display items such as products or news articles. It is possible to change how many items are listed on a category page by modifying the category. If there are too many items to show on one category page then extra pages with numbered page links are generated automatically to accommodate the rest of the items. If a category does not have any items to show it is essentially a stand-alone web page. Usually you will want to link to your main category pages on your websites navbar. You can copy a category URL by right clicking on its category name. If you have a lot of categories then you can also use special tags to display dynamic category menus on your website. Product Pages: A product page is a page dedicated to displaying just one particular product and is usually linked to automatically from a category page that has been set up to list products although you can also link to a product page manually from anywhere. If a particular product has related products selected then these may be listed on this page also. You can change how related products are displayed on a product page by modifying system category 2 (Related Products). Article Pages: An article page is a page dedicated to display a particular news article and is usually linked to automatically from a category page that has been set up to list news articles although you can also link to an article page manually from anywhere.

System Categories

System categories are created automatically by the cms and cannot be deleted. Categories 1,2 and 3 are only used for e-commerce websites that are displaying products. Category 4 (Search Results) is only used if you want to allow visitors to search products or news articles. Category ID 0 - This is the root category which is usually used for your websites home page. Category ID 1 - This category is used for displaying products on the shopping cart page, beneath the shopping cart itself. Category ID 2 - This category is used for displaying related products on a product details page. Category ID 3 - This category is used for displaying a website visitors recently viewed products. Put the special tag {recently_viewed} on your page template and modify this category to change how the products are shown. Category ID 4 - This category is for displaying search results, you can change how search results are listed by modifying this category.

Adding New Categories

New categories can be added by clicking the Add link beside Categories in the admin menu. For more information on this see the add/modify category section.

Category Sort-Order

Click the Up - Down links to move categories up or down. This can help you arrange them in way that suits you. If you are using one of the special menu tags to display a category menu on your website then the menu will list the category links in accordance with the sort- order here. There is also a button to sort all categories alphabetically but note that clicking this will reset any custom sort order - bear this in mind as re-sorting a lot of categories manually can take time.

Sub-Categories

It is possible to arrange categories in a hierarchy. To add a sub-

category to an existing category click on the + link after the category

name. You can also change a categories parent category on the

modify category page. If you are using one of the special menu tags

to display a category menu on your website then the menu will list

the category links in accordance with the hierarchy here.

Modifying a Category

To modify a category click on the modify link beside the name. For

more information on this see the add/modify category section.

Deleting Categories

To delete categories select the check boxes beside the categories

you want to delete and click the delete selected button. You cannot

delete a category if it has any sub-categories, instead you will need

to delete the sub-categories first or modify the sub-categories so

they are under a different parent category. Deleting a category will

not delete any products or articles associated with it. If you delete a

category remember to remove any links that you have manually

created to it.

CMS Help - Categories